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Love Hina
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Alternative Titles

Japanese: ラブひな

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 14

Chapters: 120

Status: Finished

Published: Oct 21, 1998 to Oct 31, 2001

Genres: Award Winning, Comedy, Romance, Ecchi

Theme: Harem

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Magazine (Weekly)

Authors: Akamatsu, Ken (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.78¹ (scored by 36,840 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1346²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #229

Members: 68,284

Favorites: 3,936

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 37 / 40

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May 19, 2008

AMVP

Recommended

I should say right now that Love Hina vol. 1 was the first manga I ever purchased. So, even after my initial disapointment with it, I found myself rereading it several times out of sheer lack of any other options. Initially, I was to busy pitying the all too pitiable protagonist, Keitaro, as he was relentlessly tortured by the harem of women he'd found himself plopped into.

My gudging view of the series persisted until the third volume (once I start a story, I find it hard to leave it hanging), where I feel Love Hina really hits its stride. For the next 11 volumes, ...

Apr 14, 2012

Zoon123

Recommended

I once saw this series when I was in about 6th grade, and I always felt a tie to it. When I finally read it about 4 years later, I realized how incredible it really was.

It's my number one manga series because of its ability to always make me smile and feel better about the world. Its happiness formed around life at "Hinata Inn" seems to be contagious to the ones who read it. There are sometimes sad turns within the series and the unfortunate luck of Keitaro's life (though some may find his luck to be very good indeed), ...

Aug 4, 2013

Gojirob

Recommended

This series should get a 10 overall, but the final 'big' adventure (not the grand finale) left a bad taste in my mouth. I won't say more than that it involved visiting the home of one of the mains, and it seemed rushed (perhaps by the mangaka's work on then-new Negi) and made me resent even the very sweetest character, something I thought impossible.

There are times you can adapt, and there are times you so need the full story. One example is the later seasons of M*A*S*H*. These were already weaker stories than the earlier seasons, and syndicated cuts bled them harder than most shows. ... Another example is Denethor. If LOTR proved to be filmable, Steward Denethor may have been the exception. How could a film not devoted to him alone successfully show how he is a dark counterpoint to Aragorn and Faramir, the embodied flaws of the Great Race Of Numenor while still being magnificent in those flaws?

Love Hina is that for the manga versus the anime, perhaps more so than any other mainstream series. Do you want to know why this guy stuck around, and why the ladies allowed him to? Do you want a Naru and Motoko who don't seem to channel 90's/2000's US sitcom wives, or conversely a Keitaro who doesn't seem to channel their idiot man-child husbands? Do you want actual sexual tension between Keitaro and his youngest harem members (without crossing any bad lines)? Yes, this Keitaro takes beat-downs, a good many of them unfair, but he doesn't seem a worthless wimp while his (evolving) suitors aren't always smash-smash pervert-pervert baka-baka witches. Even at their most tense, the characters all have genuine affection for each other. Only Kitsune really suffers, never getting her own arc and at times almost being to the exception to the 'more depth' defense. These ladies will annoy you and this guy will make you cringe. But they have normal days, and support each other, not merely when it counts, but pretty much anytime they can-and even the sweetest character has her flaws, some coming from her open affection for the male lead.

Until technology enables fan-authors to use the anime models for a full-on manga adaptation, the Flanderization and Up to 11 nature of the anime (which inspires most of the Naru-hate we know) leaves it looking like a pretty picture and not much more. Even those who dislike the ending and a certain coupling outcome will be at least shown why the mangaka went that way.

But as to the final big adventure, it was to me as bad as the anime on almost all fronts, at times incomprehensible, and made all but two harem members look like horrible jerks, even with the premise's built-in Karma Houdini for their actions. Myself, I wrote a fixfic, though I hope never a vicious one. The grand finale regains its footing, and then some. But I can't shake the bad incongruent taste of that last big adventure, and for me that dials a 10 down to a 9--9 and 1/2 if I had that option. You will love Love Hina, a series so strong, its mains were likely homaged/parodied/deconstructed for the mains in Elfen Lied.

Apr 21, 2011

firebug

Recommended

As much as I didn't like the anime I loved the manga. Thew manga seems to flow off the pages were the anime, for me, just set there and pretended to be Love Hina. The art shows me that there was a genuine love for the work because it is detailed and vivid. The story was interesting and kept going and kept me reading. It was a little perverted but not so much that it took away from the story, most of the time it was used for humor purposes. This was the first manga I picked up on a ...

Jul 14, 2009

moju

Recommended

I think Love Hina was the first complete manga I ever read. When someone lent me one of the volumes, I became hooked and decided to buy all 14 volumes. That's how much I loved it.

Story (8):
Love Hina is basically a cliché love story with many funny/unexpected/weird twists in it. This is what I like about it. It turns an overused topic into a very enjoyable read.

Art (9):
The art in Love Hina is "nice to look at". Meaning, there's not an exagerated amount of details (so much you can't distinguish the character from the background), but not too little either. In opinion, I think ...

Jul 11, 2009

daiyouko95

Recommended

great manga, better than the anime. great story and the ending is most likely to bring tears to your eyes. there's not enough adjectives to characterize this masterpiece. love hina's manga is the best amongst many i have read of it's type!

Jun 7, 2009

Animelover5454

Recommended

Preliminary (98/120 chp)

wow!!!
This is my all time favorite manga so far
i love it!!!
It has most of my favorite genres so im happy:]

Jun 17, 2009

xDoN904

Recommended

This Manga is a masterpiece a classic, and to my opinion obviously way better than the anime series. Storyline is very good, a mixture of funny, hilarious scenes, Serious, and a little bit of everything else.I highly recommend reading this series it may be old, but its well worth the read.

Im not very good on this review since im new here and its been months that i finished this series so cut me some slack here.

Nov 21, 2020

Bladezofury

Recommended

This was manga was really enjoyable. I heard the anime was mediocre but this is actually a good read. The characters were all different and unique which made you care about them. I loved the interactions between the characters each chapter had me interested. Another thing I enjoyed about the story is that even for a romance and comedy manga, the motivations and dreams change for the characters overtime which makes the plot points fresh.

The MC actually chooses a girl so it makes the manga worth it if you want a conclusion.

It also ends on a good note too and the ending is ...

Mar 27, 2021

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: A manga that is pretty simple but has a really funny and likable cast.

Love Hina is an incredibly famous series from what feels like quite a while ago. I actually read the original English release in the mid 2000s, but I felt it was worth a reread as it’s been quite a while and I’d forgotten most of it. I think this was one of my first manga too so it’s something that I have a lot of nostalgic memories for. My opinion on it after reading it again is that it holds up incredibly well.

The manga is held up by two very closely ... intertwined elements, comedy and characters. The comedy is pretty different from most comedic manga these days in that it relies heavily on being exaggerated, both in terms of its concepts and in terms of its visuals. The world of Love Hina is mostly pretty normal, and thus things that break from that normality stand out very strongly. The manga makes good use of that comedy, which while pretty much never all that complex or witty still manages to be pretty amusing. A very large portion of this humor comes from the protagonist being thrown into misunderstandings and other crazy situations that result in him getting attacked or beat up. That’s something that’s been used in a lot of other manga as well, but a lot of the time it just feels kind of annoying and not all that funny. Here it feels like the author actually managed to use it pretty well. Both in terms of visuals and the effects it has, it just seems so ridiculous that it’s easy to just completely disconnect it from common sense and just laugh at it. This isn’t just as simple as just leaving no aftereffects no matter what happens, as that probably wouldn’t be all that funny. Rather, it actually seems to be a running gag that the characters all acknowledge, with the protagonist even being referred to as immortal at times, and it actually feels like he’s going along with everything rather than just being the victim. This aspect does feel like it gets a bit repetitive at times, but it pretty much gets woven into everything to the point that it’s omnipresent in such a way it doesn’t even really stand out that much after a while beyond keeping things perpetually lightly amusing. Thus, that alone wouldn’t be enough to make the comedy good as it kind of faded into the background somewhat. Thankfully, there’s a good amount of great comedy outside of that that has a good amount of variety with all sorts of crazy completely disconnected things happening which allows the comedy overall to manage to stay funny from beginning to end.

As for the other core aspect, the cast of character’s aren’t all that complicated with deep backstories or complex character arcs. Rather, it feels like the primary motivation that was being considered when designing the characters was how to create an amusing cast that work well together. And that they do. A lot of the humor is directly tied to traits of various characters, and due to the variety of characters the humor too manages to be solid, and as the cast themselves are the source of that, they end up pretty likable. That’s not to say that the characters are completely flat outside of their comedic aspects. Most of them have do get at least some level of character and relationship development, though I would say it’s pretty weak for most of them. The exception to that as one would expect is the main couple, around whose romance the overarching plot revolves. The protagonist Keitarou definitely does grow considerably over the course of the manga, though it isn’t developed all that well. The main heroine Naru also does have growth which does get fleshed out better, but it feels like there’s a lot less of it. The romance between the two is pretty solid, but it’s also excruciatingly slow to the point that you want to bang your head on the wall at times. This isn’t as bad as it sounds as it isn’t as if it feels like the author is simply dragging things out as long as possible for the sake of it. Rather, that it’s being dragged out for so long feels like it’s an element in Naru’s character arc and is also used directly for comedic purposes. Still, while it does have its purposes, it’s still immensely annoying. I should also note that both of them being likable is enough to get invested in them which made the plot pretty satisfying when things finally started progressing, especially the epilogue which was pretty extended and an incredibly good way to end things. It should also be noted that while this does seem to use a lot of what are very common tropes these days, this precludes them becoming so ubiquitous, and yet still manages to use them incredibly well.

I would also like to note that the art is quite nice. The designs aren’t all that unique as they’re for the most part all pretty down to Earth and not particularly creative. Still, the character designs do look nice enough and do a good job of fitting the characters they belong to. The style too is incredibly clean and precise. This isn’t all that special anymore since digital tools have made it a lot easier for art to be that way, but I think it’s pretty impressive for a manga from the turn of the millennium. The art also flowed reasonably well, but I felt that it was packing in too much content at times and that it would have been better to have more portions where the art was given more room to breathe.

May 22, 2016

fragmentsmusic7

Recommended

So this is normally not the type of Manga I enjoy, however Love Hina for whatever reason just hit me the right way. It was super funny but carries great story arcs as well. I really care for all the characters and their arcs as well as their contribution to the main characters goals and story. The humor is really what got me the right way. You could take out all the fan service-esque stuff and leave the humor and I would still love it just as much.

I normally into far more serious Manga. If you want to dive into the genre, I would ...

Nov 22, 2019

the9thone

Recommended

Well, it took some time but here I am, making a review for the very first manga I ever read. I just never thought to give it a review. But I am going to do it now. If you have seen any other reviews of mine, you should know that I rarely give anything a 10. When I rate manga and anime, if I think it's worth a 10 rating I have to think if there is anything I would add or change to the story to make it better. This manga could have been better. It does fall a little short compared to Akamatsu's ...

Feb 5, 2020

Captain_Calypso

Recommended

While this is an older Manga and it does fit into the Harem category, it is very enjoyable. Most, if not all of the characters are fantastic, the plot is a bit of a hit or miss, but it is still enjoyable. some of the characters CAN become rather annoying at times, as it might seem like they kind of whine over nothing, but can be overlooked. Now, I will say that the manga is not for everyone, as it does have some rather suggestive situations at times, but is not the main focus. Overall the manga and anime both are absolutely fantastic, and the ...

Dec 15, 2023

muticere

Recommended

Love Hina and I go way back. This was the first series that I downloaded pirated fansubs for back in 2001. I stumbled onto it as a baby anime fan trying to find "generic anime" art to decorate my desktop wallpaper. By itself out of context, Love Hina fit that description pretty well. Regardless, though, Noticed the little kana Love Hina logos on these images and wondered what show this was.

The thing was, in 2001, Slice-of-Life anime was functionally unheard of in the US. Everything on Toonami was fantasy/scifi, everything on pretty much any other anime source was similarly fantastical. I wanted something grounded ... and realistic, something that took place in modern day Japan. Anyway, Love Hina ended up being this in a big way for me. It was sort of providential that I got the subs when I did because later that year the manga started coming out in the US.

Now the manga. That's a whole new can of worms. Suffice it to say it quickly became my favorite manga of all time. Grant it, I had only read a small handful at that point, but still. The anime was good, the manga was 1000x better.

Love Hina is a pretty by the numbers harem comedy where the twist is that the ladies by and large hate the guy (at least for a while, they come around). Usually in a harem you have a dude surrounded by ladies who fawn over him while he flusters or is mostly aloof. Keitaro, our protagonist, on the other hand, is a lech and a creep, and is constantly punished for his bad behavior. Due to manga plot circumstance, he finds himself manager of an all girls dorm (converted from a very fancy hot spring inn). He's got the ususal childhood friend motivation, supposedly if two people who love each other get into Tokyo University together, they will be together forever. He remembers making this promise with a girl when he was a child and has clung to this until adulthood, even though he can't remember the name or really the face of the girl. Unfortunately Keitaro is kindof a dumbass and has failed multiple times already to get into Tokyo U. So here he is, managing a girls dorm and trying to study, meanwhile maybe the girl he made the promise to years ago is closer than he thinks.

Where the manga excels, in my opinion, is its mix of comedy and heart. Naru is a really gd good character. She should just be a stereotypical tsundre but she has a lot more depth than that and really carries the series. Keitaro goes through an interesting evolution, too, though he is a somewhat weak protagonist, given that so much the comedy relies on his doofy pervyness. The other characters are good, too. They each start out as pretty stock but grow quite a bit as the series goes on. But aside from all that touchy-feely crap, the comedy is often really where it's at. Akumatsu Ken is just such a funny writer/artist. His timing is so often on point, dropping hilarious panels right in in unexpected moments. And while the story does start to feel a bit strained by the end, he does manage to inject enough new characters, situations, and evolutions from time to time that it manages to stay fresh.

Aug 13, 2020

dbzakj

Recommended

This is a fairly decent manga. You shouldn't go a full volume without at least a couple chuckles.

I remember first hearing about the anime and watching a bit around 2003 (which I mostly disliked because of the constant violence against Keitaro) but the aesthetic and allure remained.

I had heard the old phrase "the manga is better" so I eventually gave it a shot (almost 2 decades later), and I have to mostly agree. The violence still exists but it's simply in the nature of this kind of story, he gets destroyed but is back the next panel with a bandaid, there's even a running joke ...

Sep 2, 2017

curisuchan

Recommended

I just finished reading this today and here's my short review about this manga.

Story: the story is great, it has some ecchi but i'm probably sure that your not going to mind it since it's only light ecchi and i think it's created so the story can proceed smoothly. The romance is great but sometimes it will make you think why the characters can't just become honest with each other since their feelings are already obvious, well i'll tell you that its going to be part of a great ending.(7.5or8/10)

Art: I think the art is really fantastic specially it was created around 1999 or something, ...

Mar 11, 2016

Flexicute

Recommended

While it's not the progenitor of tsundere harem anime (I consider Ranma 1/2 to hold that honor), Love Hina is without a doubt one of the most popular and successful series ever in its respective genre, and no doubt had a lasting influence on many series that followed it afterwards.

It all starts with a childhood promise. Keitaro and his Promise Girl both vow at a very young age that they would find happiness together in Tokyo University. Fast forward 15 years later, and the poor guy is struggling with re-tests to get in. And his problems are all downhill from there: He's also the manager ...